Detectives solve 1974 murder case with a DNA hit

Note that, only in the picture of this man, do they tell the real reason why he died: Malnutrition. Obviously because California sex offender residency laws forced him into homelessness.

5-28-2010 California:

SANTA ANA – Someone found the nude and grease-smeared body between a trailer and a wall next to some auto parts at a Cadillac dealership on north Bush Street early in the morning of Sept. 23, 1974.

An autopsy revealed that Frances E. Esqueda, 54, had been strangled with her own slip.

Santa Ana homicide detectives in 1974 called the slaying "a crime of opportunity," believing that Esqueda might have been accosted by chance as she walked near McLean Cadillac to her home on Cypress Avenue.

Detectives at the time could not determine if she was the victim of a robbery, and said only the killer knew if she was carrying a purse at the time she was attacked.

They questioned 25 to 30 people back in 1974, according to news accounts, but never made an arrest.

But this month, Santa Ana P.D. cold case detectives believed that after 35 years, they were finally close on the heels of Esqueda's killer.

In February, detectives Louie Martinez and Domingo Cabrera submitted items of evidence recovered from the crime scene to the Orange County Crime Lab for analysis.

Forensic scientist Heather Williams was then able to isolate foreign DNA from blood found on Esqueda's slip: apparently, she had fought for her life and had drawn blood from her killer.

That DNA was then compared with known samples in the California Attorney General's database.

In mid-May, the detectives heard they had a hit: the DNA that detectives had preserved in 1974 was matched in 2010 to an ex-convict named Gerald Gay Kifer.

Carbrera soon learned that Kifer was a known sexual predator who had been a transient most of his life, who had arrests dating back to 1963, and who had served at least two terms in prison for sexual offenses.

He also found out that Kifer had been a registered sex offender who might have been living in the Santa Ana area at the time Esqueda was accosted and murdered.

The detectives had identified their murder suspect, now they had to find him.

It didn't take long.

Official records revealed that Kifer died of unknown causes in Los Angeles County on June 11, 2007. He was about 69 years old.

That news was bittersweet for the two detectives.

"There would have been nothing more pleasurable than to slap the 'cuffs on him and bring him to justice," Martinez said.

Santa Ana police Sgt. Robert Wooding said the case was solved by a combination of the tenacity of the detectives in his office and the passion of the forensic experts with the crime lab.

"Who would have thought at the time that evidence saved so long ago could lead to the solving of a case 35 years later?" Wooding said.

On Tuesday, Martinez and Cabrera drove up to a residence in Orange to tell some of Esqueda's surviving relatives what had happened to their beloved aunt. Her two brothers, including Manuel Esqueda, for whom a school is named after in Santa Ana, are dead, but several nieces and nephews still live in Orange County.

"It was really good to hear from the detectives and to know that they had solved this case," said nephew Joe Esqueda, 71. "This gives everyone in the family peace of mind."

He said his aunt's murder happened so long ago that everyone had almost completely forgotten about it.

"My uncle and my dad never talked about it much," Joe Esqueda said. "It was too painful. We were aware that something violent had happened, but it was kept secret from us as far as the details were concerned."

He said his aunt was born in Kansas, but migrated to Orange County with the rest of her family. She was a co-owner in two little family stores with her mother.

"She was a good person, strong-willed and independent," Joe Esqueda said.

Even though the person who committed this crime has already passed on, it was still good to hear," he added.

"We know who did it, and he is in the hands of God," Joe Esqueda said. "His judgment didn't come in this world but it will certainly hit him in the next." ..Source.. by LARRY WELBORN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Judge suppresses ‘devastating' testimony in death-penalty case

1-14-2010 Georgia:

A judge has suppressed "devastating evidence" in Atlanta's only federal death-penalty case -- a chilling interview with Brian Richardson boasting about killing his cellmate and vowing to kill again.

Richardson, 46, is serving more than 60 years in prison for bank robbery. He is charged with stabbing and strangling Steven Obara at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta in July 2007. Obara, of Madison, Conn., was serving a 1o-year federal sentence for possessing child pornography and had pleaded guilty to sexual assault in state court.

During an April 7, 2008 interview with FBI agents and federal prosecutors, Richardson described how he stabbed Obara with a metal pin for being a pedophile. He says he also strangled him by stepping on his throat and wrapping a sock around his neck "real, real tight."

He slapped Obara a couple of times to revive him before finally killing him, Richardson said.

During the interview, Richardson lamented over conditions in the federal prison system and said he hoped Obara's killing would land him on death row or in the maximum security prison known as Supermax in Florence, Colo.

If not, he said coldly, he would kill again -- a fellow inmate or a guard. "Somebody else is gonna get skinned up bad," Richardson said. "First chance I get, I'm gonna kill somebody else. I promise you that."

In his Jan. 4 ruling, U.S. Magistrate Christopher Hagy suppressed the statements because Richardson had initially asked how he could get a lawyer. Richardson previously confessed to killing Obara, but video of the interview, Hagy noted, could be "devastating evidence" in Richardson's yet to be scheduled death-penalty trial.

Richardson "admits on the videotape to stabbing others, threatens to kill again if that's what it takes to get a more desirable prison placement and shows no remorse for killing Obara," Hagy noted.

At the outset of the interview, Richardson told the agents and prosecutors, "I want to talk about how I get a lawyer."

FBI Special Agent Joseph Fonseca replied by telling Richardson they would talk about that. Then Fonseca read Richardson his rights and secured his agreement to answer questions without a lawyer present. Minutes later, the agent was asking Richardson about Obara's murder.

Even though Richardson did not make an unequivocal request for a lawyer, what he said was enough for a reasonable official to consider the statement a request for counsel, Hagy wrote, citing a number or U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

For this reason, Hagy said, any answers Richardson gave after asking about a lawyer must be suppressed. Hagy's recommendation now goes to Senior U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper, who is to preside over Richardson's trial.

Richardson, a former Marine who was raised in Alabama, has numerous tattoos -- a swastika, skulls, a meth monster, a gargoyle and the initials CWA. ("Cracker with attitude," Richardson told agents.) He had recently been transferred to the penitentiary in Atlanta for stabbing an inmate at a Florida prison.

In the interview, Richardson said he wouldn't hesitate to kill another child molester. "If I get a chance to get one, I'm gonna get ‘em," he said, according to a transcript.

One of Richardson's lawyers, federal defender Stephanie Kearns, said her client's initial discussions with agents show he killed Obara because he was a child molester, not because he wanted better placement in the prison system.

"According to the Bureau of Prisons psychiatrist who testified at the [suppression] hearing, Mr. Richardson suffers from paranoid schizophrenia," Kearns said. "At the time the FBI agents and assistant U.S. attorneys interrogated him, Mr. Richardson was not medicated. He is now properly medicated and is much more rational." ..Source.. Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Local Man Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charge

7-22-2006 Connecticut:

MADISON -- — A town man pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of possession of child pornography that traveled in interstate commerce, federal law enforcement authorities reported.

Steven Obara, 59, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced Oct. 18, U.S. Attorney Kevin J. O'Connor said.

Obara, a former Durham Road resident, has been detained without bail since he was arrested by federal agents Dec. 15. ..Source..

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UPDATE: Judge decides inmate's chilling interview is admissible

4-19-2010 Georgia:

A judge has decided that a chilling interview of a prison inmate, who boasts of killing his cellmate and vows to kill again, can be used against him in an upcoming federal death-penalty trial.

Senior U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper reversed a ruling by a magistrate judge who recommended the interview with inmate Brian Richardson be suppressed. During the interview with federal agents and prosecutors, Richardson boasts about how he stabbed and strangled his cellmate, Steven Obara, at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta because Obara was a pedophile.

At issue was whether agents should have halted the April 2008 interview at the outset when Richardson said, "I wanna talk to you about how to get a lawyer." Cooper, in an order signed April 15, found the comment "did not rise to the level of a clear, unequivocal, actual request for counsel to assist him in dealing with custodial interrogation."

Richardson, serving time for bank robbery, is charged with stabbing and strangling Obara in July 2007. Obara, of Madison, Conn., was serving a 10-year federal sentence for possessing child pornography and had pleaded guilty to sexual assault in state court.

During the interview, Richardson lamented over conditions in the federal prison system and said he hoped Obara's killing would land him on death row or in the maximum security prison known as Supermax in Florence, Colo.

If not, he said coldly, he would kill again -- a fellow inmate or a guard. "Somebody else is gonna get skinned up bad, " Richardson said. "First chance I get, I'm gonna kill somebody else. I promise you that." ..Source.. Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Jurors weigh fate of inmate who killed molester

3-20-2012 Georgia:

Authorities say Brian Richardson admitted stabbing and strangling his cellmate at the federal prison in Atlanta because the cellmate was a convicted child molester. Now a jury is deliberating whether Richardson could face the death penalty for the killing.

Jurors on Tuesday began considering whether Brian Richardson was guilty of first-degree murder for the July 2007 killing of Steven Obara, a 60-year-old who was serving 10 years for possessing child pornography and child molestation. Richardson could be sentenced to death if he's found guilty of the killing.

The rare federal death penalty case — Richardson could be the first person sentenced to death in federal court this year if he's found guilty — featured competing arguments about why Richardson tortured and killed his cellmate after just three days of sharing a cell.

To prosecutors, it's a case of cold-blooded murder. But defense attorneys argue that Richardson should be charged with lesser crimes, such as manslaughter, that wouldn't subject him to the death penalty.

Richardson and Obara were brought together by happenstance when they were put in the same temporary cell at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta as they awaited transfers to other facilities. But prosecutors said Richardson carefully began plotting the murder after discovering his new cellmate's past.

First, they say, Richardson lulled Obara into believing they were friends by sitting next to him at lunch and doing him favors, such as fetching him stamps. Then, on the evening of July 8, 2007, he attacked Obara with a fire extinguisher pin that another inmate had flattened into a shiv.

He stabbed Obara nine times, according to court testimony. He then choked his cellmate, let him regain consciousness, and choked him again, avoiding checks by guards patrolling the prison, prosecutors said. He finally killed Obara by strangling him with a sock.

As his cellmate's dead body lay crumpled on the floor, prosecutors say, Richardson calmly shaved and then alerted authorities that he had killed Obara. He admitted the killing to FBI agents who interviewed him, then vowed to kill again if he wasn't punished for the crime, according to court records.

"You are here because Brian Richardson decided that Steven Obara had to die. Had to die. You're here because Brian Richardson thought he was God. That he had the right to decide that Mr. Obara did not have the right to be on the Earth," prosecutor Richard Moultrie told jurors during closing arguments.

"It ain't complicated. It's a straightforward case," Moultrie told jurors. "He said, 'I killed the man because he was a child molester. And I hate child molesters.'"

Defense attorneys countered that it wasn't so simple. Richardson may have fought Obara because he was tired of hearing him talk about his crime. And, they said, he was following a "prison code" that requires inmates to rough up child molesters, but just took it too far.

"They are violent places that have rules of their own imposed by inmates on other inmates," said defense attorney Stephanie Kearns. "You have to try to step in the world Mr. Richardson lived in. And there's a rule in prison that child molesters aren't to be tolerated."

There's enough evidence on the table to convict her client of manslaughter, Kearns said, but prosecutors failed to prove he was guilty of the more serious crime of capital murder. She said her client never intended to kill Obara, but then tried to turn his mistake into an advantage by boasting of the killing to authorities.

"You take a responsibility and maybe get a little more respect from your homeboys," she said.

If the jury convicts Richardson, a lengthy sentencing phase will begin. Prosecutors will argue that Richardson deserves a death sentence and defense attorneys are set to argue that he should face a lesser punishment.

Some 69 federal defendants have been sentenced to death since 1988 and three have been executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. One federal convict was sentenced to death in 2011 and none have been sentenced this year, according to the center's data. ..Source.. by Greg Bluestein

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Federal inmate convicted in cellmate slaying

3-22-2012:

A federal inmate could face the death penalty after he was convicted Thursday of murdering his cellmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta.

The jury found Brian Richardson guilty of first-degree murder for the July 2007 killing of Steven Obara, who prosecutors say was targeted because he was a child molester. The verdict allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Richardson, who could be the first person sentenced to death in federal court this year.

The case spawned competing arguments about what led to Obara's death. Prosecutors contended it was a case of cold-blooded murder while defense attorneys say he should have been charged with a lesser crime.

Richardson and Obara were brought together by happenstance when they were put in the same temporary cell at the Atlanta prison as they awaited transfers to other facilities. Richardson was in the middle of a 65-year sentence for armed bank robberies while Obara was serving 10 years for possessing child pornography and child molestation.

After Richardson learned of Obara's past, prosecutors said, he began plotting the murder by lulling Obara into believing they were friends. He sat next to him at lunch and did him favors, like getting him stamps, and the two talked frequently in their cells.

That all changed on the evening of July 8, 2007, when Richardson attacked Obara. First, he stabbed his cellmate nine times with a fire extinguisher pin that another inmate had flattened into a shiv, according to testimony. Then he choked him repeatedly, avoiding routine security patrols, before finally strangling him with a sock.

After killing his cellmate, prosecutors say Richardson calmly shaved and then called guards to the cell. In interviews with federal investigators, he admitted to the killing and said he deserved to be punished for his crime by being sent to a maximum security prison or to death row.

"Take him at his word. He hated child molesters," prosecutor Richard Moultrie told jurors during closing arguments on Tuesday. "And you have the opportunity to hold him accountable."

Richardson's lawyers acknowledged he killed his cellmate, but they said circumstances surrounding his death were murky. Defense attorney Stephanie Kearns suggested her client may have been following a "prison code" that requires inmates to rough up child molesters, and the attack quickly spun out of control.

"They are violent places that have rules of their own imposed by inmates on other inmates," she said. "You have to try to step in the world Mr. Richardson lived in. And there's a rule in prison that child molesters aren't to be tolerated."

The guilty verdict means that a lengthy sentencing phase will begin next week. Prosecutors are preparing to argue that Richardson deserves a death sentence for his crime and defense attorneys will counter that he should face a lesser punishment.

Some 69 federal defendants have been sentenced to death since 1988 and three have been executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. One federal convict was sentenced to death in 2011 and none have been sentenced this year, according to the center's data. ..Source.. by Greg Bluestein

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Death penalty sought in inmate killing at US Penitentiary

4-24-2012 Georgia:

A prisoner who murdered his cellmate because he was a child molester is "a stone-cold killer" who deserves the death penalty, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.

In closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill McKinnon described Brian Richardson as a violent predator who appointed himself judge and jury to carry out Steven Obara's execution at the U.S. Penitentiary in July 2007. "The only way to deter him from committing other crimes is to sentence him to death," McKinnon said.

Federal defender Brian Mendelsohn pleaded for mercy. He said Richardson was abused by a mother who left him covered with bruises and welts and is a mentally ill man now responding to proper medication.

"He was sorely damaged by the abuse he suffered as a child, the turning points in his life and a history none of us would want for our children," Mendelsohn said. "How we treat the mentally ill speaks volumes about our humanity. Brian is certainly among the most damaged and mentally ill."

In an unusual capital trial in federal court, the jury convicted Richardson last month of Obara's murder. Richardson, whose shaved head is covered with tattoos, stabbed Obara nine times with a shank fashioned from the pin of a fire extinguisher before strangling him. He then shaved and called for guards to take Obara's body away.

Richardson said he killed Obara after learning the 60-year-old man was serving time for child molestation. Richardson, 48, is serving 65 years for armed robberies.

The jury adjourned Tuesday without reaching a verdict. The last federal death sentence was handed down in June by a Connecticut jury against a gang leader who killed rival drug dealers. Since 1997, federal juries in Atlanta have imposed two death sentences -- one against an inmate who killed a prison guard, the other against a man who raped and killed a nurse practitioner.

Because Richardson is already serving the equivalent of a life sentence, a sentence of life in prison without the chance of being released "is simply no punishment," McKinnon told jurors.

In past years Richardson had splashed bleach on a prison guard's face, stabbed one inmate 30 times and stabbed another cellmate in the back of the neck, McKinnon said. After Richardson killed Obara, he talked a troubled inmate across the hallway into committing suicide by hanging himself with a bed sheet, the prosecutor said.

"Has this defendant done anything in his entire life to deserve mercy from any of you?" McKinnon asked. "He certainly didn't show Steven Obara any mercy when he decided to execute him."

But Mendolsohn called allegations that Richardson is an evil predator "distorted reality" based on grandiose statements from the defendant himself and inmate snitches who told lies to get their own sentences reduced.

"Brian Richardson is not a stone-cold predatory killer," Mendelsohn said. "There is a huge chance for rehabilitation for Brian Richardson. He is finally on medicine that makes him calm."

Richardson's case has had its share of controversy. Its first two prosecutors were removed and are now being investigated by the Justice Department. This includes one prosecutor who jokingly suggested to an inmate that he would be rewarded if he were to stab one of Richardson's lawyers. This month, Senior U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper forbade the government from calling its own expert witnesses who conducted a mental health evaluation on Richardson after finding prosecutors misled him as to how the evaluation was to be conducted. ..source.. by Bill Rankin

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Ga. inmate avoids death for prison murder

4-27-2012 Georgia:

A federal prisoner who killed his cellmate because he was a child molester was spared the death penalty Thursday when a jury hearing the case could not reach a unanimous verdict.

After deliberating two days, a federal jury in Atlanta could not arrive at a verdict as to whether Brian Richardson should live or die. Without unanimity on death, the sentence of life without the possibility of being released is automatic in federal court.

The jury had convicted Richardson of murdering 60-year-old Steven Obara in July 2007 by stabbing him nine times and then strangling him at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. Richardson said he killed Obara because Obara was serving time for child molestation.

Richardson, 48, was serving a 65-year sentence for armed robberies. For that reason, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill McKinnon told jurors in closing arguments, another life sentence would be "simply no punishment."

McKinnon noted that Richardson had previously attacked a guard by throwing bleach in his face, stabbed other inmates and talked an inmate into committing suicide. "The only way to deter him from committing other crimes is to sentence him to death," he said.

But federal defender Brian Mendelsohn, pleading for mercy, said Richardson was abused as a child and suffers from schizophrenia, which is under control now that he's getting proper medications.

Richardson will be sent to the "Supermax" prison in Florence, Colo., where inmates are locked in their cells 23 hours a day and have little, if any, contact with other inmates or guards, Mendelsohn told jurors. That prison houses terrorists, murderous gang leaders and violent drug kingpins, and there have been no killings there, he said.

After the verdict, Mendelsohn said,"The jury saw that, in spite of the tragic death of Mr. Obara, that Brian's life still had meaning and value. We are grateful that they reached this just result."

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Sally Yates said, "Serving as a juror on a death penalty case is a weighty responsibility. We respect the seriousness with which the jury took this responsibility and appreciate the difficulty of reaching a unanimous verdict on such a momentous decision." ..Source.. by Bill Rankin

AZ- Officials discuss motives in slaying of 3 in Ariz.

10-1-2009 Arizona:

ST. JOHNS, Ariz. — An Arizona man who confessed to killing three people and pronounced himself a serial killer told authorities he committed the crimes because one man shot a dog, he didn't want the second to hurt anyone else and his attempts to get a 16-year-old off drugs failed.

William Inmon of Springerville faces prison sentences of 25 years to life on each of three counts of first-degree murder. Authorities said the 21-year-old's killing spree started in April 2007 with 72-year-old William "Stoney" McCarragher, continued with 60-year-old Daniel Achten nearly two years later and ended with the death of teenager Ricky Flores in August.

Inmon pleaded guilty to the murders on Wednesday.

Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting said Thursday that Inmon's overwhelming motive in the murders was that he wanted to rid society of less-than-desirable people. He told authorities he would have continued his vigilante killing spree had he not been caught.

Authorities said Thursday that money and guns also were motives.

Inmon's attorney, Albert Lassen said in a statement Thursday that his client agreed to cooperate with authorities only if the death penalty was taken off the table. Prosecutors agreed.

McCarragher was the first known of Inmon's victims, but authorities say they are investigating whether he might be involved in at least two other murders.

McCarragher lived on a small rural ranch outside of St. Johns and was known to carry large amounts of money, sometimes thousands of dollars. In court documents, those interviewed by investigators said McCarragher was a "potty mouth" and was rough on kids. He also had a criminal history of sex offenses under an alias, according to court documents.

Inmon, who was considered a potential suspect at the time, denied fatally shooting McCarragher and said, "the whole town is suspect because a lot of people did not care for Stoney."

Inmon recently confessed to the murder, saying he did not want McCarragher to violate anyone else.

Achten, who had been missing for five months before his remains were discovered in a shallow grave on his rural property outside of St. Johns last week, was a Vietnam veteran who locals said couldn't hear well. He was known to some as "Hummer Dan," because he was constantly humming, Apache County sheriff's Sgt. Richard Guinn said.

The gangly Inmon told authorities that Achten used drugs, shot his longtime dog and generally mistreated people, so he believed he had a duty to rid society of him.

Authorities said Inmon was proud of committing the murders of Achten and McCarragher, but was remorseful about the death of Flores, whom he killed with a single shotgun blast.

Springerville Police Chief Steve West said Inmon initially claimed that Flores' had threatened him with a firearm and he acted in self-defense. He eventually confessed and broke down in tears — one of only three moments when he showed real emotion, West said.

Inmon told authorities he wanted Flores to change his life, and authorities believe drugs were the issue.

The latest confessions are likely to further shake up the tiny town of St. Johns where violent killings had been rare. Last November, a then 8-year-old was charged with fatally shooting his father and his father's roommate. He pleaded guilty to the roommate's death and prosecutors dropped charges against him in his father's death. The boy, now 9, is awaiting sentencing. ..Source.. by FELICIA FONSECA

CA- Man found guilty of murdering cellmate

5-15-2009 California:

STOCKTON - Jurors found a 41-year-old man guilty Thursday of first-degree murder for killing his cellmate in 2007 at Tracy's Deuel Vocational Institution because he wouldn't stop talking.

According to trial testimony, Richard Henry Kase repeatedly told Randy James Rabelos, 28, to be quiet one night before he punched his cellmate in the throat, shoved a towel down his throat, pinched his nose closed and said, "Goodbye, Randy."

He waited until the next morning to tell jailers his cellmate was dead.

"It was a calculated, methodical killing," said San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Valli Israels, who prosecuted Kase in the trial lasting about three weeks. Jurors deliberated for one day before returning the verdict.

Kase, who has a long rap sheet, was at Deuel after pleading guilty in Santa Clara County to being a felon in possession of an illegal weapon - a sword concealed in a walking cane. He was sentenced to 11 years.

An appeals court overturned the conviction on a technicality, but not before Kase suffocated his cellmate, a convicted sex offender.

Kase is expected to appear again on Monday before San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Michael Garrigan for a further hearing and to set a sentencing date. Kase is expected to receive a prison sentence of at least 25 years to life. ..News Source.. by Scott Smith, Record Staff Writer

FL- Tampa man faces charge in nephew's fatal stabbing

1-8-2007 Florida:

The two men had been arguing constantly and loudly in recent days.

TAMPA - Things at 3308 E Mohawk Ave. started going downhill after Elizabeth Kendrick went to the hospital on New Year's Day.

Cars cluttered her driveway. People came and left at all hours. The two men who lived there argued constantly, so loudly the neighbors sometimes awoke.

Then, just after 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon, police said, 58-year-old Edwin Kendrick stabbed his nephew, 33-year-old Randy Harrelson in the side with a steak knife during a front yard brawl.

Harrelson collapsed, bleeding. Kendrick walked toward the corner stop sign and stood there, then walked some more. Officers arrested him a few blocks away.

After an ambulance rushed Harrelson to Tampa General Hospital, Elizabeth Kendrick's granddaughter, Yvette Bynum, waited by the police tape with her cell phone for word from the emergency room.

The sun had set when Bynum's phone rang.

"Oh, my God!" she screamed. "He's dead. Jesus Christ." Bynum fell to the ground, her daughter crouched next to her.

Relatives ran from across the street, where they had gathered. "Tell me my cousin ain't dead," one said, and he threw a bottle.

As Bynum contemplated how to tell 82-year-old Elizabeth Kendrick what happened at her house, a Tampa police homicide team snapped photos.

Edwin Kendrick would be charged, Lt. Jill Kwiatkowski said, but the charges had not been determined Sunday night.

Edwin Kendrick has an extensive criminal record, including battery, aggravated assault and possession of cocaine.

Harrelson was on house arrest when he was killed. He also had a lengthy record, with charges including drug possession and sexual battery.

Bynum said she knew something bad was bound to happen at that house, and forbade her daughter to hang out there while Elizabeth Kendrick was gone. But she never thought it would come to killing.

"We're family," Bynum said. "Family don't do this." ..Source.. by ALEXANDRA ZAYAS

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Man Claims Self-Defense; Murder Charge Tossed

12-3-2008 Florida:

TAMPA - A judge today dismissed a second-degree murder charge against a man who said he killed his nephew in self-defense.

Edwin Allen Kendrick, 60, was charged with fatally stabbing Randall Marquayne Harrelson, 33, on Jan. 7, 2007.

Kendrick was on trial this week, but Judge Manuel Lopez dismissed charges, saying the state could not rebut the self-defense claim. Pam Bondi, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office, said prosecutors argued that the jury should decide the case.

Harrelson and Kendrick had been arguing, police said, and the day before the killing, Kendrick punched his nephew, a registered sexual offender, in the mouth. ..Source.. by ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

First defendant pleads guilty in Alton slaying

1-14-2008 Illinois:

EDWARDSVILLE — One of four people accused in the brutal death of an Alton man, who was beaten and then slain, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Monday.

Eric J. Swisher, 37, of the 3200 block of Belle Street in Alton, pleaded guilty in Madison County Circuit Court to one count of first-degree murder, said Stephanee Smith, spokeswoman for the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office.

In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to ask for a sentence of no more than 30 years in prison. Swisher will be sentenced in about six to eight weeks.

Swisher, along with Terry A. Ballinger, 20, of the 3100 block of Paul Street in Alton, and Kevin M. Scott, also known as “K-9,” 34, of Wellston, Mo., were charged with murder and aggravated kidnapping in Madison County Circuit Court. Sherman L. Crockett, 25, of St. Louis, also was charged in the case with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated kidnapping, a Class X felony.

Swisher’s three co-defendants still are awaiting trial, Smith said.

Charges state they repeatedly hit, kicked and stomped on Ernest V. Walker, 41, of the 1300 block of Alby Street in Alton, and then slit his throat. They also are accused of holding Walker against his will. The incidents occurred during the evening hours last Feb. 22.

Walker’s body was found two days later in a vacant lot in Wellston, in North St. Louis County. His body was covered by an abandoned car seat. ..more.. by STEPHANIE KISZCZAK and SANFORD J. SCHMIDT

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Fourth man charged in killing
7-13-2007 Illinois:

ALTON — A fourth man was charged Friday with first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the February beating death of a man at the Alton Acres public housing complex.

The Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office charged Sherman L. Crockett, 25, of St. Louis, with the Feb. 22 killing of Ernest V. Walker, 41, of the 1300 block of Alby Street in Alton. Crockett was charged in the criminal information with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated kidnapping, a Class X felony.

No bond was set for Crockett, who remained at large Friday, authorities said.

Another man charged March 1 with first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the killing was arrested on a felony warrant Saturday in Hennepin County, Minn., while hiding in the Minneapolis area.

Lt. David Hayes, chief of detectives for the Alton Police Department, said the Ramsey County (Minn.) Sheriff’s Office had notified the Madison County Sheriff’s Department that they had Kevin M. “K-9” Scott, 27, of Wellston, in custody.

“Sgt. Gary Cranmer and Detective Pete Vambaketes on Monday morning flew to Minnesota,” Hayes said. “They interviewed Mr. Scott, and it was very productive and fruitful. It has confirmed all the evidence we had against Mr. Scott and the other defendants and shed light on another suspect.”

Alton Police Chief Chris Sullivan said Scott provided information that allowed detectives to more solidly piece together the chain of events in the homicide that began in Alton and ended with a mortally beaten Walker being dumped in a lot in Wellston in North St. Louis County.

Authorities believe Walker was killed because of “alleged sexual abuse of a family member of one of the defendants,” Sullivan said.

Charges filed March 1 in Madison County Circuit Court say three men repeatedly hit, kicked and stomped on Walker and slit his throat Feb. 22 outside his girlfriend’s apartment at Alton Acres and confined him against his will.

The men then drove Walker to Wellston and dumped him under an abandoned car seat in an empty lot. His body was found Feb. 24.

Besides Scott and Crockett, the other men charged with murder and aggravated kidnapping in Walker’s death are Terry A. Ballinger, of the 3100 block of Paul Street in Alton, and Eric J. Swisher, of the 3200 block of Belle Street in Alton.

Scott’s girlfriend at the time, Sigrid L. Hickman, of the 3100 block of Belle Street, was charged with concealment of a homicidal death. She was accused of destroying physical evidence of the slaying and providing a car for transporting Walker after the attack.

Sullivan said Walker was to be extradited at any time from Minnesota to the Madison County Jail in Edwardsville. ..more.. by LINDA N. WELLER, The Telegraph

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SEE ALSO: In another case this year, Ernest V. Walker, 41, was kicked, stomped, beaten and his throat cut at Alton Acres public housing complex Feb. 22, then dumped in Wellston, Mo., where authorities believe he died. Three people were charged with first-degree murder and a fourth with concealment of a homicidal death in that case.

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Defendant found guilty in Alton man's killing

10-28-2008 Illinois:

EDWARDSVILLE - A judge took about a minute Thursday to find a Missouri man guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the beating death of an Alton man after the defendant's former girlfriend testified against him.

Associate Judge James Hackett of Madison County Circuit Court returned the guilty verdicts in the non-jury trial of Kevin Scott, 34, of Wellston, Mo.

"I think he deserves what he got, but I think they all deserve the death penalty," said Keith Walker, the twin brother of victim Ernest V. Walker, 41.

Keith Walker said Scott and the other defendants tried to lure him into the same fate as his brother got.

"They said, ‘Come get me,'" said Mattie Bennett, the victim's mother.

The verdict came after Sigrid Hickman, the former girlfriend of the defendant, testified to seeing Scott and other suspects put the victim in the trunk of her car and drive off to Wellston.

Scott's defense attorney, Tim Berkley, claimed his client was threatened and was justified in punching Ernest Walker in the face just outside an Alton Acres apartment on Feb. 22, 2005. He said Scott took no part in the susequent fatal beating of Walker in Wellston, where the victim's body was dumped.

However, only one witness reported seeing Walker with a knife, and it was not taken out of the victim's pocket. It was showing from inside the pocket.

Walker, 41, of the 1300 block of Alby Street, Alton, got into a ruckus with several men at a party after he allegedly groped the girlfriend and daughter of the defendant, also known as "K-9."

Walker's body was found hidden beneath a car seat in a vacant lot in Wellston a few days after the beating. Authorities said the defendants, including Scott, allegedly took turns beating Walker in the face with the butt of a gun while in Wellston.

However, the incident started at the party in Alton, and witnesses testified Tuesday to seeing Scott punch the victim in the face, knocking him out cold. They also testified to seeing several young men carrying "the body" to the trunk of a car.

Scott, who waived his right to a jury trial, is one of four men charged in the death of Walker. Hickman also has been charged with concealing Walker's death by destroying physical evidence and providing a car for transporting the victim out of Alton. She is awaiting trial, and prosecutors have made no deal in exchange for her testimony.

Eric J. Swisher of the 3200 block of Belle Street, Alton, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. Terry A. Ballinger of the 3100 block of Paul Street, Alton, is awaiting trial. Sherman L. Crockett, of St. Louis, has been charged but remains at large.

The death came to light when Wellston police discovered the body and identified Walker through fingerprints.

Police did a neighborhood canvass around the public housing complex and developed several witnesses who saw different parts of what went on.

Scott faces a possible sentence of 20 to 60 years for the first-degree murder conviction and between six and 30 years for the aggravated kidnapping. The terms would run consecutively. ..Source.. by SANFORD J. SCHMIDT

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From the court record of Kevin Scott's trial:

The oldest girl saw Ernest touch her younger sister's buttocks as he hugged her, and she immediately went to tell her mother what she had seen. Sherman Crockett was within earshot and overheard the conversation. Sigrid asked the defendant to tell Ernest to leave. She told the defendant that she did not approve of the way Ernest was acting. She did not tell him that Ernest had inappropriately touched one of her daughters. That information was provided to the defendant by someone else.

It looks like someone stretched the "touch [maybe a pat]" to "grabbing of the girl's butt," its no wonder the court gave out long sentences.

Man Dies After Being Tasered By Deputies

12-10-2007 Georgia:

WALTON COUNTY, Ga. -- A man is dead after Walton County deputies say they had no choice but to taser him. Deputies say Leroy Patterson, Jr. was being questioned about a sexual assault and became belligerent. He died shortly after being tasered.

"Well, I'm confident that the deputies did everything they felt they needed to do in that situation at that particular time," said Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman.

Chapman is standing by a deputy, who he said tasered 41-year-old Patterson early Monday morning. Patterson died less than an hour later.

"We have some of the best trained deputies in the state of Georgia," said Chapman. "We're constantly training."

Chapman said the incident happened at the Green Acres subdivision on Virginia Court and Monroe. He said a patrol deputy and a detective approached the suspect's blue truck -- which he lived in. It was parked on a co-worker's property. Chapman said when they questioned Patterson about a woman's sexual assault charges, he became combative.

"He began throwing evidence out of the truck. He was subdued by the deputies and a Taser was used," said Chapman.

The sheriff said while the suspect was in custody, he began having seizures. He was pronounced dead at the Walton County Hospital.

The case is now in the hands of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

"I just ask that we don't make any judgments at this time. Let's wait until the Georgia Bureau of Investigation conducts their investigation and determines the facts and then go from there," said Chapman.

The sheriff said it's standard for the GBI to handle cases involving deputies.

Officials are not releasing the deputy's name but he has been placed on administrative leave with pay -- which the sheriff said is also standard practice.

The GBI said an autopsy on Patterson is planned for Tuesday. Toxicology reports could take several weeks. ..more.. by WSBTV.com

Megan's Law listing may have led to slaying

12-10-2007 California:

Lake County prosecutors have investigated the possibility that information in the Internet database might have been the motive for the killing of a convicted sex offender.

LAKEPORT, CALIF. -- -- Convicted rapist Michael A. Dodele had been free just 35 days when sheriff's deputies found him dead last month in his aging, tan mobile home, his chest and left side punctured with stab wounds.

Officers quickly arrested Dodele's neighbor, 29-year-old construction worker Ivan Garcia Oliver, who made "incriminating comments, essentially admitting to his attacking Dodele," the Lake County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

Prosecutors said they have investigated the possibility that the slaying of Dodele, 67, stemmed from his having been listed on the state's Megan's Law database of sex offenders. If so, his death may be the first in the state to result from such a listing, experts said.

Oliver pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, burglary and elder abuse when he was arraigned Nov. 30.

In a jailhouse interview Wednesday night, Oliver said he has a son who was molested in the past, and he took action to protect the child.

"Society may see the action I took as unacceptable in the eyes of 'normal' people," Oliver said. "I felt that by not taking evasive action as a father in the right direction, I might as well have taken my child to some swamp filled with alligators and had them tear him to pieces. It's no different."

Although Oliver did not say he killed Dodele, he said that "any father in my position, with moral, home, family values, wouldn't have done any different. At the end of the day, what are we as parents? Protectors, caregivers, nurturers."

In fact, Dodele was not a child molester. But a listing on the Megan's Law website could have left Oliver with the impression that he had abused children because of the way it was written.

Although Dodele's listing has been taken down since his death, a spokesman for the state attorney general said the site described the man's offenses as "rape by force" and "oral copulation with a person under 14 or by force."

"He was convicted of other bad things, but nothing involving a minor," said Richard F. Hinchcliff, chief deputy district attorney for Lake County. But "it would be easy to understand why someone might think so looking at the website."

Dodele's crimes involved sexual assaults on adult women, records show.

A neighbor at the Western Hills Resort & Trailer Park, a tattered collection of mobile homes and bungalows, said that two days before the killing, Oliver "told every house" in the park that he'd found Dodele listed on the website of convicted sexual offenders and was uncomfortable living near him.

"He looked it up on the computer . . . ," the neighbor said. "He said [Dodele] can't be around here."

The park resident requested anonymity because of a fear of reprisal, but reported Oliver's visit and statements to sheriff's deputies after the slaying. "A lot of people told them" about Oliver's claims, the person said.

Officials in Lake County -- a patchwork of wealth and poverty, vineyards and mobile home parks just north of Napa Valley -- would not offer a motive for the killing.

Hinchcliff acknowledged, however, that one possible motive investigated by the district attorney's office was that Oliver knew Dodele was on the Megan's Law list and did not want him as a neighbor.

According to court documents, Dodele committed his first offenses at age 15 and spent the last two decades either in prison or at Atascadero State Hospital receiving treatment.

His last attack was the 1987 knife-point rape of a 37-year-old woman on a Sonoma County beach.

Those were the charges that were listed on the Megan's Law website.

"I think [Oliver and Dodele] are both victims of the Internet," said Charlene Steen, a psychologist who examined Dodele on behalf of the defense in two 2007 trials about whether he should be recommitted to Atascadero.

Both ended in hung juries. Dodele was freed Oct. 16 and was hoping to start over in the crowded little mobile home park, where neighbors described him as open and friendly.

"The family is just sick," Steen said. "They finally got him back. They all thought he had made such great progress, and then this happened. It's pretty bad."

At 10:14 a.m. Nov. 20, an anonymous woman called 911 to report that a man was bleeding from his hands and directed medical personnel to Dodele's space at the mobile home park, according to a written statement from the Sheriff's Department.

When deputies arrived, they found Dodele's body.

The dead man's "immediate neighbors and other residents" sent the deputies to Oliver's home, the statement said, because "he had been seen recently leaving Dodele's residence with what appeared to be blood on his hands and clothing."

There was blood on a car in front of Oliver's house and at the front door of the concrete-block duplex. Inside, deputies reportedly found Oliver with blood on his hands and clothing and "injuries to his hands, consistent with having been in a physical altercation."

Authorities will not divulge exactly what Oliver said when he was arrested.

Steen wrote a letter to a local paper decrying Dodele's death "simply because he was a sex offender whose name and picture were on the registry."

Shortly after the letter was published, Steen said, a woman describing herself as Oliver's wife called to complain.

"She said, 'We have a child who was molested, and my husband is very upset to have a child molester living nearby'," Steen recounted, noting the irony that Dodele's crimes all involved adult women.

Steen said she had not talked to police about the phone call. Oliver said that the woman with whom he lived in the trailer park was his girlfriend, and the two were not married.

Attempts to reach the woman failed. One neighbor said she had moved away after the slaying.

Oliver is being held without bail, a police statement said, because he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in San Diego and was on parole when Dodele was killed.

Speaking from behind a thick glass divider in the visiting area of the Lake County Correctional Facility, Oliver said his son had been molested, but he declined to give the details of his son's assault or to give the child's name.

Although he spoke of "the action I took," he would not describe what happened in the aging mobile home the Tuesday morning before Thanksgiving.

Oliver would not comment on whether Dodele had ever approached his son.

But Oliver said he saw the older man looking at the boy.

"It was more than watching," Oliver said. "You could see his eyes. He was fantasizing, plotting. Later on down the line, who knows how many other children he could have hurt."

Research indicates that, in general, the older rapists get, the lower their risk of re-offending, said L.C. Miccio-Fonseca, chairwoman of the California Coalition on Sex Offenders, a group of treatment providers, probation and parole officers.

In addition, she said, sex offenders who target grown women over the course of many years are unlikely to victimize children.

But when told that Dodele's victims were women and not children, Oliver seemed unfazed. "There is no curing the people that do it," he said.

Oliver's preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 7.

Asked about what he thinks will happen to him, he said, "It's hard to tell at this point. There's no doubt I'm looking at a numerous amount of years. I'm not a lawyer. We haven't gone over the evidence."

But he also said that he "would never change who I am or what I do because of what society thinks is right or not right. I have always been who I am and always will be." ..more.. by Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

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New charge for Lakeport man
Police say Oliver, accused of killing neighbor, found with weapon in jail
12-20-2007 California:

A Lakeport man charged with fatally stabbing a neighbor he apparently thought was a pedophile now faces an additional charge of sharpening a toothbrush into a weapon while incarcerated.

Ivan Garcia Oliver, 29, has been charged with a felony count of possessing a weapon in jail, said Lake County Sheriff Rod Mitchell. He already was facing a first-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of Michael Dodele, a convicted rapist, in November.

In a jailhouse interview, Oliver told the Los Angeles Times he thought Dodele was a child molester, based on a faulty reading of the charges on an official sex offender Web registry. He said he acted to protect his son.

However, Dodele's sex crime conviction was for raping an adult Santa Rosa woman. Because he was a repeat offender, Dodele served nearly 20 years for the assault before being released two months ago.

Oliver previously was convicted in San Diego County of assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing a man multiple times, said San Diego County District Attorney's Office spokesman Steve Walker. In that 2003 case, Oliver stabbed a security guard who confronted him and and two other men after they left a restaurant without paying, he said.

He was sentenced to four years in prison, Walker said.

The discovery last week of the sharpened toothbrush was particularly troubling given Oliver's record, Mitchell said.

"Based on this man's history, I certainly think the discovery may have prevented a very serious injury to someone else, particularly a member of my staff," he said.

Mitchell said Oliver cannot claim to have made the device in order to protect himself because he was being held in protective confinement away from other inmates.

"He was in no danger," Mitchell said.

A corrections officer discovered the weapon last week while searching Oliver before moving him from one solitary cell to another, Mitchell said. ..more.. by Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com

Earlier Articles

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Law enforcement officers testify in accused sex offender killer trial

7-26-2012:

Law enforcement personnel took the stand on the second day of testimony in the trial of a nearly five-year-old murder case against a Lakeport man.

Ivan Garcia Oliver, 34, is accused of using information obtained from the Megan's Law online sex offender registry to kill Michael A. Dodele, 67, a registered sex offender at the time, on Nov. 20, 2007.

Oliver faces three felonies, including murder. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied several special allegations in the case. Richard Hinchcliff, chief deputy district attorney, is prosecuting the case. Oliver is represented by attorney Stephen Carter. Judge Arthur H. Mann presided.

Four law enforcement officers testified Thursday, including the first Lake County Sheriff's Office (LCSO) deputy on scene and the lead investigator.

Thomas Andrews was the first LCSO deputy to arrive at Western Hills Resort trailer park that day.

Andrews testified he was dispatched to the trailer park at 10:15 a.m. for a report of a man with bleeding hands in front of space 19. He said he arrived on scene within five minutes.

Upon entering the driveway, he made contact with a man in front of space 31, whom Andrews said he later learned was Oliver. Andrews said he asked Oliver where space 19 was located, and Oliver allegedly told Andrews it was at the back of the trailer park.

Andrews said he saw a 19 on a trailer nearby, to which Oliver allegedly responded that the trailer numbers were mismarked and that it was at the back. Andrews said he then drove around the park and ended up on the other side of the trailer in space 19, which he said was the second trailer upon entering the park.

Andrews said he didn't see anyone in front of space 19 but noticed a sliding glass door was open. He said he announced himself as he approached the trailer and, as he moved aside some closed window blinds, noticed blood drops on the floor of the living room area that continued toward the kitchen and down a hallway.

Andrews said he announced himself again, entered the trailer and followed the blood trail to the hallway. After waiting for backup, he said the two deputies walked past the closed bathroom door, where the trail continued, and into the bedroom.

Andrews said they discovered Dodele's body at the foot of the bed in the fetal position. He said he checked for a pulse and found none, noting that Dodele was warm to the touch.

Andrews said he notified dispatch, requesting an ambulance and an LCSO investigation team.

During the investigation, Andrews said he noticed blood drops around the trunk area of a white car parked outside space 31 as well as on the front door handle to space 31B. He said he knocked on the door to 31B several times and received no answer. After other deputies arrived and further attempts to contact the residents of 31B went unanswered, Andrews said the deputies forced entry into the trailer. Andrews said Oliver was located in the residence along with his 4-year-old son and girlfriend.

LCSO Lt. Brian Kenner said he assisted in the forced entry of 31B. Upon entering, he said Oliver was discovered on the floor of the kitchen.

Kenner testified Oliver later allegedly admitted to the crime and said that he was defending his family after Dodele allegedly attacked them and went after his son. Kenner said Oliver "seemed agitated."

Kenner said Oliver had a wound on the back of his right hand around the webbing. He said he rode in an ambulance with Oliver to Sutter Lakeside Hospital, where Oliver received several stitches for the wound. Kenner testified that Oliver told the doctor treating him that he cut himself while shaving.

Brian Martin, a former LCSO lieutenant, testified a cellphone was discovered by another investigator between the mattress and box spring of the bed in 31B.

Martin said he contacted Dodele's sister, and asked for Dodele's cellphone number. Martin said he allegedly called the number she provided and the phone rang, leading the investigators to believe it belonged to Dodele.

Martin also searched an area behind 31B because the window screen in the bathroom was allegedly pushed out and there was blood on the window sill. Upon investigation, Martin said he discovered two knives. Oliver's then-girlfriend confirmed one knife belonged to Oliver, according to Martin.

LCSO Sgt. Corey Paulich, the lead investigator, described to the jury photos taken inside Dodele's trailer, many of which showed a trail of blood drops and other places where blood evidence was present. Paulich testified he smelled bleach upon entering Dodele's trailer. He said he allegedly saw an area of the rug where it was recently scrubbed or cleaned.

Hinchcliff provided more than 40 crime scene photos for the jury to look at before testimony concluded for the day. Paulich will resume testimony tomorrow at 9 a.m. in Department 3. ..Source.. by Kevin N. Hume

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Trial in Lakeport sex offender's killing nears end

8-11-2012:

No one's denying Ivan Oliver stabbed a Lakeport neighbor 65 times after mistaking him for a convicted pedophile. The question about to be mulled by a Lake County jury is whether it was a case of premeditated murder, self defense or something in between.

During closing arguments Friday in the Lake County Superior Court trial, Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff told jurors the death is a clear case of first-degree murder.

He said Oliver went to Michael Dodele's mobile home with a knife and the intent to kill him. Oliver stabbed Dodele “over and over and over again” with enough force to fracture several ribs and vertebrae, he said.

“There was no way that was self defense. He was like a shark on a feeding frenzy,” Hinchcliff said.

He said Oliver, 34, killed Dodele, 67, in November 2007 because he hates child molesters and thought Dodele was a convicted pedophile after finding him on a Megan's Law sex registrant list. A confusing entry on the Megan's Law website was at the root of the mistake.

Dodele was convicted of raping multiple women in the 1970s and 1980s, not children. He'd served more than 20 years in prison for his crimes and had been released just a month before he was killed.

The misreading of the website led Oliver to think Dodele may have touched his 4-year-old son and to confront Dodele about the suspected incident, said defense attorney Stephen Carter. The attorney characterized Oliver as a doting, concerned father who was frantic with concern for his son's safety.

Recounting his client's trial testimony, Dodele said that when Oliver confronted Dodele, the older man became angry and tried to stab Oliver, he said.

Oliver was able to seize the knife and defend himself, Carter recounted. He said Oliver, eyes closed, “wildly” stabbed at Dodele. Oliver initially tried to cover up the crime but eventually admitted the slaying, according to court testimony.

Hinchcliff told jurors the self-defense scenario is implausible but Carter defended his client's story. He said Dodele was a dangerous man who had raped several women at knifepoint and was capable of using the weapon on another adult.

“Mr. Dodele lived by the knife and died by the knife,” Carter said.

Oliver also had experience with knives. He has a prior conviction for stabbing a security guard who confronted a group of Oliver's friends for leaving a Southern California restaurant without paying. He also is suspected of assaulting a young gay man the same day he killed Dodele.

Carter advised jurors to conclude that Oliver killed Dodele in self defense. At most, they should find him guilty of voluntary manslaughter, he said.

The jury will begin deliberations on Wednesday. In addition to murder, the counts they will be considering include a special allegation that Oliver used information from the Megan's Law sex offender registry to commit a felony, burglary, elder abuse and using a knife to commit a crime. ..Source.. by GLENDA ANDERSON

CA- Cellmate is suspect

The cellmate of a prisoner found dead at DVI is now a homicide suspect.
12-3-2007 California:

Officials at Deuel Vocational Institution are looking into the possibility that a man found dead at the prison Saturday was killed by his cellmate.

Lt. Ray Munoz, spokesman for the prison, said the California Department of Corrections has treated the death of Randy James Rabelos, 28, of Tuolumne County as a homicide. Munoz said the San Joaquin County Coroner reported that Rabelos suffocated after he was hit in the throat.

Investigators have not released the likely cause of the injury, but Munoz said that Rabelos’ cellmate, Rick Henry Kase, 39, of Santa Clara County, has been charged with the homicide under the prison’s administrative regulations. He has yet to be charged with any crime by the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s office.

Munoz said the prison’s nursing staff discovered Rabelos dead at 7:20 a.m. Saturday in the lower bunk of a two-man cell. The nursing staff checked in the cell during its morning rounds of the cell block, when it gives medication to those prisoners who require it.

Both men were in the prison’s special processing unit, a sort of protective custody separate from the general population for new arrivals, some sex offenders, ex-gang members, ex-police officers and some notorious criminals.

Rabelos arrived at the prison on Sept. 7. He had just started serving a three-year term after he was convicted on Sept. 4 in Tuolumne County for one count of lewd acts with a child.

Kase is serving 11 years for felony assault and weapons possession convictions. Munoz said he was in the special processing unit because he has been threatened by gang members.

Eric Hovatter, deputy district attorney from Tuolumne County who prosecuted Rabelos’ case, said Rabelos was convicted of committing a lewd act with a minor after he touched a 10-year-old girl’s breasts. He said the girl was a friend of Rabelos’ girlfriend’s daughter and was at the house for a sleepover when Rabelos reportedly got the girls drunk while the mother was at work.

Hovatter said the case went to trial in June and initially ended up with a 9-3 hung jury, and Rabelos agreed in July to a plea deal on the one count of lewd acts with a child. ..more.. by Bob Brownne call 830-4227 or e-mail brownne@tracypress.com.

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Inmate found dead in Tracy prison cell
Officials investigating incident as possible homicide
12-4-2007 California:

TRACY — An inmate was found dead inside his cell at Deuel Vocational Institution Saturday morning, prison officials said.

Prison staff handing out the morning doses of medication to inmates found Randy James Rabelos, 28, unresponsive in his cell around 7:20 a.m. who appeared to have been dead for a "couple of hours," Lt. Ray Munoz said.

Investigators from the prison, along with the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Justice, are investigating the matter and have questioned Rabelos' cell mate, Rick Henry Kase, 39, from Santa Clara County.

"They were in the cell together for the last 12 hours," Munoz said. "We got started into looking at how Rabelos died and immediately started to look at his cell mate. The case is being investigated as a possible homicide."

According to preliminary findings from the San Joaquin County Coroner's Office, Rabelos appeared to have died from asphyxiation with blunt force trauma. An official cause of death is pending a toxicology report which can take up to six weeks to complete.

Rabelos arrived at DVI in September from Tuolumne County and was serving a three-year sentence as a sex offender, Munoz said.

Kase arrived at the prison a little more than a month ago and is currently serving a term for parole violation, and being a convicted felon in possession of a deadly weapon. ..more.. by Staff Reports

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Strange twist in case of slain San Joaquin County inmate

9-28-2008 California:

STOCKTON - If it weren't for the bald tires on a car he was riding in, Rick Henry Kase would likely be a free man today. Instead, he's in a state prison near Tracy facing a murder charge in the gruesome death of his cellmate.

Kase, 40, awaits trial for allegedly killing Randy James Rabelos, 28, of Turlock. They were housed together at Deuel Vocational Institution one December morning when Kase told jailers that his cellmate was dead, according to San Joaquin County Superior Court documents.

The ironic twist in Kase's story came about seven months after he allegedly killed Rabelos when a state appeals court overturned the conviction on a technicality.

In its decision that would have freed Kase from an 11-year sentence for an illegal weapon possession, the court said the arresting officer didn't have the right to pull over the 1980s Toyota Camry driven by another person simply because it had bald tires.

"Come to find out, he never should have been in prison in the first place," San Joaquin County Deputy Public Defender Keith Arthur said in a court hearing Thursday. Outside of court, Arthur declined to comment further on his client's case.

Kase - who has a long criminal history, including five earlier prison stints - faces a life sentence if he is convicted of Rabelos' death. Kase's attorney Thursday rejected a prosecutor's offer to resolve the case before trial if Kase took a sentence of 45 years to life in prison.

Kase's most recent tangle with the law began early last year when he was arrested in the San Jose traffic stop.

San Jose police Officer Macedonio Zuniga testified that he noticed a car's balding tires and made the stop, thinking he would write a fix-it ticket or give the driver a warning for her bald tires.

Then he learned that the passenger with tattoos on his neck - Kase - was on parole and searched the car. The officer found that Kase, whose foot was in a cast, had a cane that concealed a sword. He arrested Kase for possessing an illegal weapon.

Kase pleaded guilty in Santa Clara County Superior Court and got an 11-year sentence because of his long rap sheet. At Deuel, Kase ended up in a cell with Rabelos, a convicted child molester.

In an interview with an investigator, Kase confessed to killing Rabelos, giving details of how he carried out the crime that he is now fighting. Details of the interrogation are in a transcript of a court hearing held last year.

Kase told the investigator that Rabelos would become intoxicated after taking medicine and start shouting. Kase told him to quiet down, and moments later Rabelos again grew loud, court documents said.

Rabelos then disrespected Kase, calling him a gang dropout, and things turned violent, court papers said.

Kase "described punching Randy (Rabelos) in the throat," the investigator said. "He described knowing it was a lethal blow."

Kase said he knew Rabelos' gasps for breath were his last and quickened his cellmate's death. He pulled Rabelos from the top to the bottom bunk, held up his chin and punched Rabelos in the throat four or five more times, court documents said.

He then shoved a towel down Rabelos' throat, Kase told the investigators.

"He said he pinched Randy's nose and said, 'Goodbye, Randy,' " according to court papers, which describe the death as taking less than two minutes.

The last inmate murder at Deuel occurred in 1986, more than two decades ago, said Lt. Gilbert Valenzuela, a spokesman for the medium-security prison.

San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Valli Israels said the circumstances surrounding Kase's overturned weapons conviction have no bearing on her murder prosecution against him.

"We still have the tragic death of Randy Rabelos with which he is charged," she said. "I'm sure the family of Mr. Rabelos doesn't sleep any easier. They still miss their son and brother." ..News Source.. by Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or ssmith@recordnet.com.

Police investigate fatal shooting in North Dallas

12-1-2007 Texas:

DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ― A registered sex offender is dead after a shooting in a normally quiet Dallas neighborhood.

It happened in the 12,000 block of Hoblitzelle, in the historic Hamilton Park neighborhood.

Neighbors tell us many of them knew Davion Crow was a sex offender. In 2005, he was put on probation after he was convicted of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old student at Cisco Junior College.

Police say Crow was killed by someone using at least two weapons. He was shot several times at the entrance to his house.

"Witnesses came by, saw the glass broken out of the front door, peered inside and saw the deceased there," said Dallas Police Sgt. Bruce McDonald.

Next door neighbor Lee Thomas called Crow quiet and no trouble.

But police say Crow was wearing an ankle bracelet that tracked his whereabouts.

Detectives say they found narcotics in the house.

"We have found drugs in the house," said McDonald, "and we'll be looking at that angle." ..more.. by CBStv11

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Police investigate fatal shooting in North Dallas

A 22-year-old man was shot and killed early Friday when bullets tore through his home in the 12000 block of Hoblitzelle Drive, Dallas police said.

Davion Crow was found dead about 10 a.m. by a friend who noticed Mr. Crow’s glass door was shattered.

Neighbors reported having heard shots between about 2 a.m. and 3 a.m.

Police say they found drugs inside the home.

The case still is under investigation. ..Source..

Man Serving Sex Assault Sentence Killed

Inmate Died From Head, Chest Trauma
11-26-2007 South Carolina:

RIDGELAND, S.C. -- Department of Corrections officials said that a Spartanburg man who was serving a sentence for sexual exploitation of minors was found dead at the prison.

An autopsy found that Thomas Walter Turner, 40, died of head and chest trauma.

Authorities said that they had initially thought that Turner died of natural causes. He was found dead at Ridgeland Correctional Institution about 8:45 p.m. on Nov. 20.

South Carolina Department of Corrections Communications Director Josh Gelinas said an investigation was begun immediately after the autopsy results were released.

In October 2005, Turner started serving a 16-year sentence for criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Ridgeland is a medium security facility.

Turner was arrested in May 2005 after State Law Enforcement agents found pictures of boys and girls having sex on Turner's home computer.

At the time of that arrest, Turner was a registered sex offender, having been convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in 1998. ..more.. by WYFF4.com

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Inmate found not guilty of murder

8-19-2010:

RIDGELAND - An inmate accused of killing another prisoner at the Ridgeland Correctional Institution was acquitted on murder and armed robbery charges at trial last week.

Wendell Wilkins, who was 20 when he allegedly beat, choked and stabbed Thomas Walter Turner, 40, at the Ridgeland prison on Nov. 20, 2007, was found not guilty after a three-day trial.

Another inmate, Thomas Lee Pelzer, 20, is also charged and scheduled to go to court in October if there is enough court time following a separate murder trial.

At the time of the slaying, Wilkins was serving 10 years for an armed robbery in Spartanburg County and Pelzer was serving six years for assault with intent to kill conviction in Orangeburg County.

Turner was serving 16 years for criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Wilkins and Pelzer allegedly robbed Turner for a watch at the medium-security facility in Ridgeland which houses about 1,300 inmates.

The attack allegedly happened in a cell while other inmates had freedom to move around within the pod. ..Source.. by Stephanie Ingersoll

Body found near stolen vehicle

No case has more people and events involved than this one (See below).

11-20-2007 Minnesota:

Body, Porsche both burned; man arrested

A suspected sex offender found dead and burned next to a flaming sports car north of Windom was living in Mankato before he was killed, according to the mother of a man who she said was arrested and jailed in Blue Earth County as a result of the murder investigation.

The death of 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa Jr. is being investigated by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Cottonwood County Sheriff’s Department, the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department and other agencies, said Mike Mauer, Blue Earth County chief deputy.

Samilpa’s death was discovered after a family traveling north for the Thanksgiving holiday saw the car burning near the intersection of Highway 71 and Cottonwood County Road 3 and reported it to the Sheriff’s Department sometime around 1 a.m. Monday, authorities said.

The 1999 Porsche that was found burning next to Samilpa’s partially burned body had been stolen from a house north of Mankato. Another vehicle that had been stolen from the same Lime Valley Road house, a 2000 Lincoln Navigator, was found burning in Watonwan County at 5:17 a.m. Monday, or about four hours after the Porsche fire was reported, authorities said.

“It was the Porsche that was found at the murder scene,” said Doug Storey, Cottonwood County attorney. “Why an attempt was made to burn the body with the car, we don’t know.”

About 15 guns, cash and other items also were missing from the rural Mankato house when that incident was reported by the owners just before 9 p.m. Saturday, a Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department report said.

Hans Paul Hottel, 20, formerly of Windom, was booked into the Blue Earth County Jail on a second-degree murder charge at 10:18 p.m. Monday, according to the jail roster. Capt. Rich Murry of the Sheriff’s Department said Hottel was being transported to Cottonwood County Tuesday night. Murry said he couldn’t comment about the reasons for Hottel’s arrest.

“At this point, our investigation is ongoing and in conjunction with the BCA,” Murry said.

Hottel’s mother, Lita Hottel of Windom, said her son’s arrest was connected to Samilpa’s death. She said her son, who volunteered to serve in the military in Iraq and recently returned from a tour there, lived with Samilpa and other roommates at an apartment in the immediate Mankato area.

“He was his friend and he was his roommate and he was trying to get him a job,” Lita Hottel said, describing her son’s relationship with Samilpa. “Hans was the only one who was arrested because the other ones involved are gone.”

Hans Hottel recently started working at Corporate Graphics in North Mankato and had applied to enroll at Minnesota State University, Lita Hottel said. He plans to start classes next semester if he’s released.

Samilpa was scheduled for trial next month in Nicollet County District Court for a felony charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and a gross misdemeanor charge of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct. The charges were filed on Oct. 17, 2006, two days after a Sleepy Eye woman reported he had raped her at a party at a rural residence about three miles north of North Mankato on Oct. 15, 2006.

About a week after he was charged, Samilpa was released on $25,000 bond. His trial was scheduled to start on Dec. 19 and service papers for several subpoenas that had been issued to potential witnesses for the trial were returned to Nicollet County Tuesday, according to court records.

The victim in that incident was at a party with a friend, also from Sleepy Eye, when she was approached by Samilpa, the criminal complaint said. Samilpa allegedly separated her from her friend, forced her into a car and raped her before leaving with a group of his friends.

She was able to identify Samilpa as the man who attacked her by looking at his picture in a Madelia High School yearbook, the criminal complaint said. ..more.. by Dan Nienaber, Free Press Staff Writer

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Witness reaches plea in '07 murder case

1-28-2009 Minnesota:

WINDOM — For his part in a 2007 murder that left 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa Jr. stabbed, shot and burned on a roadside north of Windom, Hans Paul Hottel will pay a fine of $3,000.

In exchange, Hottel, 21, has agreed to become a key witness against three other Mankato men who are now facing first-degree murder charges for the Cottonwood County killing. The men were scheduled to go to trial early this year for the murder, which is directly connected to a burglary near Mankato.

The trials were postponed after a grand jury handed down first-degree murder indictments. Those indictments wouldn’t have happened without Hottel’s cooperation, so it was in the county’s best interest to reach a plea agreement, said Douglas Storey, Cottonwood County attorney.

The agreement was worked out between Hottel’s attorney, Michael Kircher of St. James, and Assistant Minnesota Attorney General Alfred Zdrazil, who is assisting with the prosecution, Storey said.

“It was what the attorney general’s office felt they had to do,” Storey said. “Without someone at the scene who was involved, it was difficult to prove premeditation. We did what we felt we had to do to strengthen our case.”

Hottel was the first suspect arrested and charged after the Nov. 19, 2007, murder. Gerard Irving Holt, 23, Lionel Benavidez, 22, and Axel Rene Kramer, 21, all of Mankato, were arrested and charged later. Holt and Kramer were arrested after being spotted in a car parked at a hotel in Albert Lea. Benavidez was arrested in Texas.

Hottel was arrested in Mankato the same day as investigators found Samilpa’s body next to a burning Porsche 911 car off Highway 71 near Delft, a small community north of Windom. The 1999 sports car and a 2000 Lincoln Navigator, which was found burning in nearby Watonwan County, had both been stolen during the burglary of a Lime Valley Road residence north of Mankato two days earlier.

Hottel became a suspect after investigators learned he had used his credit card at a convenience store in St. James. A surveillance camera showed he used the card to pay for fuel pumped into the Porsche, Navigator and a car Hottel owned. When Hottel’s car was found in Mankato and searched, Samilpa’s wallet was found inside, court records said.

Interviews with Hottel’s roommates in Mankato eventually led to the arrests of the four suspects.

Hottel pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of aiding an offender on Dec. 22. Prosecutors agreed to not request jail or prison time and have charges related to the Blue Earth County burglary dismissed, Storey said.

On Jan. 7, a grand jury was called in Windom to examine the remaining second-degree murder charges against Holt, Benavidez and Kramer. On Jan. 16, four days before Holt was scheduled to go to trial, all three men were indicted for first-degree premeditated murder. The second-degree murder charges, which allege there was intent to kill without premeditation, also remain for the three suspects.

New trial dates have not been set, but Hottel will likely be called as a witness when they do take place, Storey said.

“He is going to be testifying at the trial,” Storey said. “He will be an important witness.”

Both Storey and Kircher said they couldn’t comment on whether Hottel was called to testify before the grand jury. A grand jury indictment is required to file first-degree murder charges in Minnesota.

During the plea hearing, Hottel admitted to driving the three other men back to Mankato after Samilpa’s murder, Kircher said. Hottel also admitted to stopping with the others to burn the Navigator.

A second-degree murder charge that had been filed against Hottel was dismissed in May after Cottonwood County District Court Judge Bruce Gross ruled there wasn’t enough probable cause to justify the charge.

Hottel witnessed the murder, then went along with the others because he was concerned about his own safety, Kircher said.

Hottel also was charged with aiding and abetting the Blue Earth County burglary. Benavidez and Hottel’s 24-year-old brother, Lars, are also facing felony charges for the burglary, which also involved Samilpa, according to court records.

In addition to the two vehicles, a total of 21 handguns, rifles and shotguns; a diamond bracelet and other jewelry; electronics including televisions, DVD players and computers; ammunition; $150 in cash; and passports were allegedly stolen from the house. ..Source.. by Dan Nienaber

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Man shot in head after breaking clutch on hot Porsche

11-22-2007 Minnesota:

A stolen Porsche, an SUV and firearms led to a killing, questions and an arrest near Windom, Minn.

For breaking the clutch on a stolen Porsche he was driving, Alberto Samilpa Jr.'s conspirators in crime shot him four or five times in the head, stabbed him in the neck and set his body and the car ablaze on a rural highway early Monday.

"It's just sad to think that somebody would kill somebody for that," said Nick Anderson, Cottonwood County assistant county attorney.

Hans P. Hottel, 20, of Mankato has been arrested and charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding an offender, according to the county attorney's office.

Two other men have been charged via warrant but remained on the lam Wednesday night: Lionel Benavidez, 21, of LeCenter is charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding an offender.

Gerald Holt, 23, of Madison Lake is charged with second-degree murder. Holt is also known as Ivan Lopez and "Latin."

A fourth suspect, known only as "Alex," is implicated in the case but has not been arrested or charged, Anderson said.

According to the criminal complaints filed Wednesday:

The Porsche, a sport-utility vehicle and eight firearms were reported stolen from a Mankato home on Nov. 17. The suspects' roommate later told authorities that he saw Samilpa and Holt at their shared Mankato home with firearms and a television.

The next day, Samilpa, Holt, Hottel and others were at the residence, where they talked about moving the stolen vehicles, according to the charges. Hottel was supposed to pick up the five men after they stored the vehicles, Anderson said.

The group stopped to get gas and discovered that Samilpa had somehow broken the Porsche's clutch, angering Holt.

According to the charges, Holt, "Alex" and someone named "Blaze" (Benavidez's nickname) shot Samilpa and burned the car.

Samilpa's body was found at 1:39 a.m. Monday lying on the ground near the car on County Rd. 3 just east of U.S. Hwy. 71.

When Hottel was arrested Monday, he had small stains consistent with blood on his tennis shoes, sweatshirt and T-shirt, according to the complaint.

The county coroner told authorities that Samilpa, who was dead on the scene, was shot at least once in the back of the head and that the bullet came out his right eye socket. Authorities describe Holt as Hispanic, 5' 6" and 185 pounds with brown hair and eyes. Benavidez is Hispanic, 6 feet and 185 pounds with brown hair and eyes. ..Source.. by Chao Xiong , Star Tribune

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Murder victim's wallet found

12-10-2007:

MANKATO — A wallet with identification for a man found shot to death and burned in Cottonwood County Nov. 19 was discovered in a car confiscated in Mankato the following day, according to court documents filed this week in Blue Earth County.

The 1997 Oldsmobile Delta 88 was the same car 20-year-old Hans Hottel allegedly used to drive three other men to Madelia after Alberto Samilpa Jr. was killed and two stolen vehicles were burned. Hottel was arrested the same day as Samilpa’s murder in Mankato. The car was found parked at 429 Warren St. in Mankato, where investigators kept it under surveillance until three juveniles attempted to leave with it Nov. 20, according to a search warrant application.

Investigators had been hoping to catch 22-year-old Gerald Holt, one of three men now charged with murdering Samilpa, with the car. However, the three teens inside told them they had been instructed to pick Holt up at a nearby park. Holt ran from the area before he could be arrested, the affidavit said.

The car was towed to a Blue Earth County evidence garage, then transferred to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Forensic Science Laboratory in St. Paul. During a search, BCA agent Micheal Anderson found Samilpa’s wallet, blood stains, a gas can, .22-caliber cartridges, a laptop computer, jewelry and other items in the car, the affidavit said. Tread impressions also were taken from the car’s four tires.

Samilpa was found dead after travelers reported seeing a burning car off Highway 71 north of Windom at 1:30 a.m. Nov. 19. The flaming Porsche 911 found next to Samilpa’s burned body had been stolen from a house on Lime Valley Road north of Mankato on Nov. 17. A 2000 Lincoln Navigator, stolen during the same burglary, was found burning in Watonwan County about four hours later.

Hottel was arrested later that day after investigators identified him through a credit card that was used to buy gas for the Porsche, Navigator and Oldsmobile in St. James. The investigation shifted to Mankato after Hottel’s mother, Estralitta Hottel of Windom, told BCA investigators he was living there.

They later learned Hottel, Samilpa and Holt were living together in the Mankato apartment. A fourth roommate, Colt Bergendahl, told them his roommates and two other men had been planning to move the two stolen vehicles on Nov. 18, and Hottel was going to pick them up in his Oldsmobile so he could bring the men back to Mankato.

The two other men were later identified as 20-year-old Axel Rene Kramer of New Ulm and 21-year-old Lionel Benavidez of Le Center. Holt and Kramer have each been charged with second-degree murder. Hottel and Benavidez have each been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

Holt, Kramer and 18-year-old Aimee Jo Palmer, charged as an accomplice after the fact, were arrested in Albert Lea on Nov. 23. Benavidez was arrested in Crystal City, Texas, on Nov. 24.

During interviews with suspects and witnesses, investigators were told Samilpa was shot and stabbed after he broke the clutch on the Porsche. His body was burned along with the Porsche, then the Navigator was driven into Watonwan County and burned. The four men allegedly stopped at a Madelia apartment to get rid of bloody clothing before splitting up, court records said.

The affidavit filed Wednesday also includes a list of all the known property stolen from Richard Kakeldey’s residence at 23525 Lime Valley Road.

The items stolen included a total of 21 handguns, rifles and shotguns; a diamond bracelet and other jewelry; electronics including televisions, DVD players and computers; ammunition; $150 cash; and passports. ..Source.. by Dan Nienaber

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Gun stash linked to car theft-murder

12-13-2007 Minnesota:

MANKATO — Guns and other valuables stolen during a burglary related to a murder in Cottonwood County last month were found last week at a house in Mankato.

The house at 626 N. Fifth St. was searched Dec. 4 after Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department Detective Paul Barta received a tip from Denise Rients, a probation officer with the county. Rients reported that one of her clients, 30-year-old Bradley Scott Junker, told her he had been asked to store a stolen Porsche at the house for people involved in the Nov. 17 burglary of a Lime Valley Road house north of Mankato.

The Porsche stolen during that burglary was found burning in Cottonwood County at about 1:30 a.m. Nov. 19. The body of 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa Jr. of Mankato was found next to the car. He had been shot in the head, stabbed in the throat and burned.

Investigators were no longer looking for the Porsche but reported finding at Junker’s house several handguns, ammunition, a 46-inch plasma television, computers and other items matching the description of items stolen in the burglary. They also found an address book with a business card for lawyer Richard Kakeldey, the owner of the house burglarized, court records said.

Samilpa, 22-year-old Gerald Holt and brothers Lars John Hottel, 23, and Hans Hottel, 20, were identified as suspects in the burglary, according to the search warrant affidavit citing probable cause to search Junker’s house.

Hans Hottel, Holt and two other men, 20-year-old Axel Kramer of New Ulm and 21-year-old Lionel Benavidez of Le Center, were identified as suspects in Samilpa’s murder. Kramer and Holt have been charged with second-degree murder. Hans Hottel and Benavidez have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder. No charges had been filed as of Wednesday for the burglary.

On Dec. 4, Junker allegedly told Rients he had heard about Samilpa’s murder after being asked to store the Porsche. He told her he hadn’t heard back from the people involved in the burglary since the murder and was concerned about being hurt by the suspects or getting into trouble with police. Rients told Junker to report the information to the Sheriff’s Department just before 10 a.m. When the search warrant request was being made more than two hours later, no report had been made, Barta reported.

Junker’s house was searched about six hours after he met with Rients. Investigators originally planned to search a house across the street, but realized they had the wrong house when they called Junker on his cell phone shortly before executing the search.

Junker was released from prison a year ago after serving four years behind bars for selling methamphetamine in Cottonwood County. He was scheduled to remain on supervised release through Oct. 10, 2008. Junker is in the Blue Earth County Jail on a Minnesota Department of Corrections hold.

Investigators actually had a cellular telephone number that would have led them to Junker Nov. 23, the day Kramer and Holt were arrested in Albert Lea. Kramer told an agent with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension that Holt had taken his cell phone from him shortly before their arrest, the search warrant affidavit said. He told the agent Holt called someone named “Brad” and told him to “keep the guns as an early Christmas present.”

Kramer also told investigators Holt had removed the guns from a residence in the 100 block of State Street and moved them to another location in Mankato.

On Nov. 30, investigators received a search warrant to check the record of phone numbers on Kramer’s cell phone. A call to someone identified on the phone as “Brad Jay” was made at 3:37 p.m. on Nov. 23.

A subpoena requesting information about the number listed for “Brad Jay” was sent to Alltel, but the cell phone company had not responded before investigators received the report about Junker from Rients, court records said. Rients reported Junker’s cell phone number was the same as the one found on Kramer’s phone. ..Source.. by Dan Nienaber

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Another plea deal reached in murder after Porsche theft

1-4-2010 Minnesota:

Holt to serve 30 years in prison for 2007 case involving stolen, burned cars, murder of accomplice

WINDOM — Prosecutors have reached a plea deal with the second of four Mankato men arrested in 2007 after a fifth man was found shot to death and burned with a stolen Porsche.

Gerard Irving Holt, 24, will serve 30 years in prison according to a plea agreement reached in Cottonwood County District Court last week. He pleaded guilty to murdering 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa on Nov. 19, 2007, and leaving his body next to a burning Porsche 911 that had been stolen from a residence north of Mankato.

A Lincoln Navigator that had been stolen from the same residence was found burning in Watonwan County later the same day. Holt was arrested along with Hans Hottel, 22; Axel Rene Kramer, 22; and Lionel Benavidez, 23; after surveillance video from a St. James convenience store showed Hottel had used his credit card to purchase fuel for the stolen vehicles and his own car. When Hottel’s car was found in Mankato, it was searched and Samilpa’s wallet was found inside, court records said.

Witnesses later told investigators the suspects said Samilpa was stabbed, shot and burned because he had broken the clutch on the Porsche.

Hottel was arrested in Mankato shortly after his car was found. Holt and Kramer were arrested after being spotted in a car parked at an Albert Lea hotel. Benavidez was arrested in Texas. Authorities had launched a nationwide manhunt for the men after they became suspects in the murder.

In exchange for Holt’s guilty plea to a second-degree murder charge, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a second charge of first-degree murder. They also agreed not to oppose Holt’s request that he serve his sentence in an Indiana prison. His sentence will run concurrently to a sentence he will receive for a burglary conviction in Blue Earth County, which is related to the vehicle thefts.

Trials have not been scheduled for Kramer and Benavidez, who are still facing first-degree murder charges. Both men had originally been charged with second-degree murder, but the charges were increased to first-degree murder shortly after Hottel reached a plea deal in December 2008.

Hottel pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of aiding an offender on Dec. 22, 2008, and was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine. In exchange for Hottel’s plea and promise to testify against the remaining defendants, prosecutors agreed to not request jail time.

Without Hottel’s cooperation, prosecutors would not have been able to get the grand jury indictments required by Minnesota law for the first-degree murder charges.

“Without someone at the scene who was involved, it was difficult to prove premeditation,” Cottonwood County Attorney Douglas Story said after Hottel’s plea. “We did what we felt we had to do to strengthen our case.”

Hottel was arrested on Nov. 2 in Anoka County for an unrelated incident. He has been charged in that county with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and obstruction of the legal process. A trial has been scheduled for June 28. ..Source.. by Dan Nienaber

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Holt gets 30 years for Samilpa murder

2-5-2010 Minnesota:

MANKATO — A former Mankato man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in a 2007 murder in Cottonwood County.

Gerard Irving Holt, 24, was sentenced Thursday for killing 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa and attempting to burn Samilpa’s body with a stolen Porsche.

Holt, who pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder on Dec. 28, is the second of five suspects arrested after the murder to enter a plea.

The Porsche 911 had been stolen from a residence north of Mankato. It was found burning with Samilpa’s body on a road near Delft, a small town north of Windom on Highway 71, on Nov. 19, 2007. A Lincoln Navigator stolen from the same residence was found burning in rural Watonwan County later that day.

Hans Hottel, 22, was arrested in Mankato after he was identified as the person who paid to fuel the stolen vehicles and his own car in St. James. Hottel, who testified he witnessed the murder, pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of aiding an offender in December 2008. He promised to testify at the trials for Holt and the others in exchange for no jail time.

With Hottel’s testimony, prosecutors were able to charge Holt, 24-year-old Lionel Benavidez and 22-year-old Axel Rene Kramer with first-degree murder. Benavidez and Kramer are scheduled to go to trial in June.

A woman who was arrested outside a hotel in Albert Lea with Holt and Kramer, 20-year-old Aimee Jo Palmer of Eagle Lake, also is scheduled to go to trial in June for felony charges of aiding an offender. The three were arrested after investigators put out a statewide notice saying they were wanted for their connection to Samilpa’s murder.

Benavidez was arrested later in Texas after investigators found him there.

Holt’s sentence for the murder will run concurrent with a 38-month prison sentence he received in July in Blue Earth County for an aiding and abetting burglary conviction. That charge stemmed from the burglary where the burned vehicles were stolen along with jewelry, electronics and cash. ..Source.. by Dan Nienaber

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Convicted murderer returns to Mankato to face burglary charges

6-5-2010 Minnesota:

MANKATO — A Mankato man who was sentenced to 24 years in prison Monday for a November 2007 murder in Cottonwood County made a stop in Blue Earth County Tuesday before going to the correctional facility in St. Cloud.

At the request of Assistant Blue Earth County Attorney Chris Rovney, Axel Rene Kramer will be staying at the jail in Mankato for awhile.

Kramer, 23, was scheduled to go to trial this month for murdering 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa Jr. on Nov. 18, 2007. The trial was canceled in March after he reached a plea deal.

Samilpa’s body, which had been both shot and stabbed, was found north of Windom next to a Porsche sports car that had been stolen from a residence north of Mankato. A Lincoln Navigator stolen from the same residence also was found in nearby Watonwan County.

Four men were charged with murdering Samilpa after investigators learned Hans Paul Hottel of Mankato, who was 20 years old at the time, had used a credit card to purchase gas for his car and the two stolen vehicles. Hottel later pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was fined. He also became the witness prosecutors needed to file first-degree murder charges against the remaining three men, including Kramer.

All three men have since reached plea agreements that reduced the charge to second-degree murder again.

Kramer appeared in Blue Earth County District Court Tuesday for felony charges related to taking the vehicles and other valuables from the residence outside Mankato. Rovney asked District Court Judge George Harrelson to set bail for Kramer as a technicality. Rovney said Kramer had no chance of being released, but setting bail would keep him from being turned over to the Department of Corrections.

It’s cheaper for the state to keep Kramer in Blue Earth County than to keep him at the prison in St. Cloud, then transfer him to court hearings, Rovney said.

“It’s a roundabout way, but we’ll save the court money,” he said.

Rovney expects the case to be resolved quickly. Whatever sentence Kramer receives for the Mankato burglary will run concurrently with the prison sentence he received for Samilpa’s murder. That’s required by state law, Rovney said.

The remaining two men also have been sentenced for the murder.

Lionel Benavidez, 24, of Mankato was sentenced to 25 years in prison in May for the murder. He has not yet appeared for the burglary charges.

Gerard Irving Holt, 24, of Mankato pleaded guilty to the burglary charges about a year ago and was sentenced to three years in prison. He pleaded guilty to the murder charge in February and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The victims of the burglary are requesting restitution. One man has filed a claim saying he lost more than $41,000. Another victim estimated his loss at $2,000 for an insurance deductible, and his insurance company is estimating losses at nearly $54,000, court records said. ..Source.. by Dan Nienaber